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Tulowitzki discusses future during All-Star break

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Tulo's 402-foot blast 0:19

7/14/14: Troy Tulowitzki jacks a 402-foot dinger into the second deck at the 2014 Gillette Home Run Derby

By Thomas Harding
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MLB.com |

PITTSBURGH -- Shortstop Troy Tulowitzki and the Rockies look forward with Friday night's second-half opener, hoping for a stunning comeback from a rough first half. But it's a good time to look back at an impressive All-Star break for Tulowitzki.

With the Rockies at 40-55, being in Minneapolis with the game's stars gave media from coast to coast a chance to question Tulowitzki whether he was willing to keep believing in the Rockies or force a trade. Tulowitzki held to his statement that it's unlikely anything would happen before the July 31 non-waiver Trade Deadline, and if there isn't a turnaround, he would talk to the Rockies at season's end.

He gave everyone a little something. If you want to believe he deep down wants to replace role model Derek Jeter with the Yankees, you could piece that together. If you believe he's going to follow the path of the Cardinals' Matt Holliday and work his way to a traditional contending market, it was there. If you believe that he wants to stay with the Rockies for the long haul, as long as they don't go into full rebuilding mode, there was plenty of fuel.

Here's a look at some of Tulowitkzi's issues and answers of All-Star Weekend:

On handling the questions: "It's easy for me, because I go out there and prepare in a similar way no matter who I am playing for. I want to do the same thing, so I won't really care about the questions. If what's ever on my table that day, that's what I'm going to attend to."

In response to a New York Post mention of a shortstop opening with the Yankees in 2014: "No doubt, I think everybody knows that. Everybody wants that perfect story, whoever it may be. Whether it's me or somebody else who took over for Derek, no doubt, it makes for a great story.

"But right now it's just talk until it gets closer to happening in the offseason. I think I'm not going to comment on that further. I think it's one of those things [where] right now, I'm just about the second half of the season."

To a St. Louis Post-Dispatch question about his relationship with Holliday, whom the Rockies traded to the Athletics (who later sent him to the Cards) when he didn't commit long term: One of the things I enjoy is that I not only look up to him as a baseball player, but also as a person. He has taught me how to be a better father and just someone who tries to make the right decisions. I owe a lot to him.

"We have had a lot of similarities. We played in the same organization, obviously. But it's different, with him having to leave. I have talked to him, but at the same time, I signed up with the Rockies longer than he had ever done. So we are in different situations. I think he understands that. More than anything, we talk about the game of baseball, not so much trade rumors and things like that."

On his patience level after seeing the Rockies struggle since making the playoffs in 2007 and '09: "Yeah, I got a reminder from my dad. We were both big Miami Dolphins fans and Dan Marnio made it to the Super Bowl his rookie year and I remember by dad saying, "You see this right here? That is one of the best quarterbacks ever and the only time he made it to the Super Bowl was in his rookie year.' So he tried to compare it to me making the World Series my rookie year, and sure enough, eight or nine years later we haven't made it back and that gave me a reminder of how special that time was. So I never took it for granted."

On whether a big market can bring happiness: "For me, it's not about the market I'm in, it's about winning. It's about wherever I get the best chance to win. Hopefully that is in Colorado, but if they feel like they have to go in a different direction and get young and that's where the organization is headed, then they will have to sit me down to talk about that. I would talk with them in the offseason."

Thomas Harding is a reporter for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter @harding_at_mlb. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.